Chessable Lowenthal Sicilian

54th Reggio Emilia 2011 (4)

Ivanchuk and Nakamura lead after 4th round of Reggio

Aexander Morozevich against Vassily Ivanchuk. Photo ©

Aexander Morozevich against Vassily Ivanchuk. Photo © | http://www.ippogrifoscacchi.it

The 4th round of the 54th Reggio Emilia tournament saw very complicated play and three decisive games. Vassily Ivanchuk defeated Alexander Morozevich in a very tough Ruy Lopez where he emerged the better from the tactics. Anish Giri seems out of form and he made at least a couple of important tactical miscalculations on the way to losing on the white side of a King's Indian to Hikaru Nakamura, who shares the lead with Ivanchuk on 8 points. Fabiano Caruana beat Nikita Vitiugov on the black side of a rare variation of the Trompowsky. Vitiugov had long term compensation for a piece he sacrificed but dissipated this on the run up to first time control. Round 5 2pm Sat 31st Dec 2011. Caruana-Giri, Morozevich-Vitiugov and Nakamura-Ivanchuk.

Anish Giri sacrificed a piece in an effort to break down Hikaru Nakamura's King's Indian. Apparently Giri had earlier missed the line 28.Rxc5 Qd5+ otherwise he might not have played this but but it was Giri's decision to take Queen's off in a position where he had a weakened black's kingside to attack that led quickly to a lost position.

Giri,Anish - Nakamura,Hikaru [E99]
54th Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia ITA (4), 30.12.2011

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.f3 f5 11.Be3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.Rc1 Ng6 14.Nb5 b6 15.b4 a6 16.Nc3 Rf7

[16...Nf6 1/2-1/2 Palliser,R (2445)-Hawkins,J (2429)/Hinkley Island ENG 2011/The Week in Chess 861 (41)]

17.Nd3

[17.c5 0-1 Hultin,J (2225)-Andersson,B (2330)/Sweden 1992/EXT 2000 (29)]

17...h5

[17...Bf8]

18.c5 Bf8 19.cxb6 cxb6 20.b5 a5 21.Na4 Nc5 22.Ndxc5 dxc5 23.d6 Be6 24.Bxc5!?

An interesting piece sacrifice for which white seems to get full compensation.

24...bxc5 25.Nxc5 Bxa2 26.Qa4 Bxd6 27.Qxa2 Bxc5+ 28.Kh1

[28.Rxc5 Qd4+ was missed by Giri but he still seems to have compensation for the moment.]

28...Bd4 29.Bc4 Raa7 30.Bxf7+ Rxf7

Hikaru Nakamura

___q__k_
_____r__
______n_
pP__p_pp
___bPp__
_____P__
Q_____PP
__R__R_K

Anish Giri

Position after 30...Rxf7

31.Qd5?!

This simplification seems bad and must have been the result of some sort of miscalculation from Giri.

[31.Rc6; 31.Rfd1]

31...Qxd5 32.exd5 Ne7 33.d6 Nf5 34.Rc8+ Kg7 35.Rc6 a4 36.Rfc1 a3 37.Ra6 a2 38.Rxa2 Nxd6

Black's material advantage looks decisive.

39.b6 Bxb6 40.Rc6 Rc7 41.Rxc7+ Bxc7 42.Ra7 Ne8 43.g3 Kg6 44.Kg2 Bd6 45.Ra6 Kf5 46.Rc6 g4!

Winning.

47.gxf4 exf4 48.fxg4+ hxg4 49.h3 g3 50.Kf3 Be5 51.Rh6 Ng7 52.h4 Ne6 53.Rh5+ Kf6 54.Kg2 Nd4 55.Kh3 f3 56.Rh8 g2 57.Rg8 Ne2 58.Rg6+ Kxg6 59.h5+ Kg5 0-1

Vassily Ivanchuk emerged the winner in a heavyweight Ruy Lopez against Alexander Morozevich. It isn't easy to comment on such a difficult struggle but it seems that Ivanchuk missed a direct win on move 30 but black's position remained and Ivanchuk was much better on move 40. Morozevich's piece sacrifice with 43.Bxg3 was a final try that didn't work.

Ivanchuk,Vassily - Morozevich,Alexander [C84]
54th Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia ITA (4), 30.12.2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bd7 9.c3 0-0 10.Bc2 b4 11.Re1

[11.Nbd2 d5 12.Re1 bxc3 13.bxc3 Re8 14.Nf1 h6 15.Ne3 Be6 16.exd5 Nxd5 17.Nxd5 Qxd5 18.d4 exd4 19.Be4 Qc4 20.cxd4 Bd5 21.Nd2 Qxd4 22.Bb2 Qxb2 23.Bxd5 Bb4 24.Rf1 Rad8 25.Bxc6 Re6 26.Qf3 Rxd2 27.Rad1 Bc5 28.Rxd2 Qxd2 29.Be4 Rf6 30.Qb3 Bxf2+ 31.Kh1 g6 32.Rd1 Qf4 33.Bf3 h5 34.Rd8+ Kg7 35.h3 Bd4 36.Qd1 Be5 37.Kg1 Rb6 38.Rd2 c5 0-1 Bruzon Batista,L (2622)-Svidler,P (2727)/Dresden GER 2008/The Week in Chess 732]

11...Re8 12.h3 Bf8 13.Nbd2 g6 14.Nc4 bxc3 15.bxc3 d5 16.Ne3 dxe4 17.dxe4 Na5 18.Qe2 Nh5 19.Rd1 Nf4 20.Qe1 Bd6 21.Rb1 f6 22.h4 Rf8 23.g3 Ne6 24.Nd5 Qe8 25.Qe2 Bxa4 26.Bxa4 Qxa4 27.Bh6 Rf7 28.Nh2 Nb3 29.Ng4 Nbc5

Alexander Morozevich

r_____k_
__p__r_p
p__bnppB
__nNp___
q___P_NP
__P___P_
____QP__
_R_R__K_

Vassily Ivanchuk

Position after 29...Nbc5

30.Ngxf6+

[30.Rb4 Qc6 31.Ndxf6+ Kh8 32.Rdb1 Seems to just win.]

30...Kh8 31.h5 g5 32.Rb4 Qa3 33.Rdb1 c6 34.Ng4 cxd5 35.exd5 Qxc3?!

[35...Ng7 may be better.]

36.dxe6 Nxe6 37.Rc4 Qa5 38.Qe4 Rd8 39.Rc6 Qd2 40.Qc4 Re7 41.Rbb6 e4 42.Kg2 e3 43.Nxe3 Bxg3?!

Black gambles but it doesn't work.

44.Kxg3 Nd4 45.Kg2 Nxc6 46.Rxc6 Qd7? 47.Ng4 Qf5 48.Qc3+ Kg8 49.Nf6+ Kf7 50.Qc4+ Re6 51.Rc7+ Kxf6 52.Bg7# 1-0

Nikita Vitiugov against Fabiano Caruana was an original Trompowsky right from the very start. Vitiugov's knight sacrifice to open Caruana's king should have been good enough for dynamic equality but possibly not more. In the end the dynamic chances Vitiugov had for the piece completely disappeared on the run up to first time control and Caruana won very quickly after that.

Vitiugov,Nikita - Caruana,Fabiano [A45]
54th Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia ITA (4), 30.12.2011

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.Nd2 h6 4.Bh4 c5 5.e4 d5 6.e5

[6.exd5 Qxd5 7.Ngf3 cxd4 8.Bc4 Qa5 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Nb3 Qb4 11.Qe2 Be7 12.Nbxd4 Nxd4 13.Nxd4 0-0 14.c3 Qc5 15.Rad1 Bd7 16.Bb3 Rad8 17.Rfe1 Rfe8 18.Bc2 Nd5 19.Qe4 g6 20.Bb3 Bc8 21.Bg3 Bf6 22.Nf3 Ne7 23.Qf4 Nf5 24.Qc7 Qe7 25.Qxe7 Bxe7 26.Bc7 Rxd1 27.Rxd1 f6 28.Nd4 Nxd4 29.cxd4 Bf8 30.h4 Bd7 31.d5 Kg7 32.d6 Kf7 33.f4 f5 34.Rd4 Rc8 35.Bd1 Rxc7 0-1 Yemelin,V (2592)-Neverov,V (2500)/St Petersburg RUS 2011/The Week in Chess 876]

6...g5 7.Bg3 Nfd7 8.h4 g4 9.dxc5 h5 10.Bb5 Nc6 11.Ne2 Nxc5 12.0-0 a6 13.Bxc6+ bxc6 14.c4 a5 15.Nd4 Qb6 16.Qc2 Nd7 17.Qd3 Ba6 18.Nxe6!?

Fabiano Caruana

r___kb_r
___n_p__
bqp_N___
p__pP__p
__P___pP
___Q__B_
PP_N_PP_
R____RK_

Nikita Vitiugov

Position after 18.Nxe6!?

18....fxe6 19.Qg6+ Kd8 20.Qxe6 Be7 21.Rfd1 d4 22.c5?!

[22.Nb3 c5 23.Qxb6+ Nxb6 24.Nxa5 Nxc4 25.Nc6+]

22...Nxc5 23.Qf7 Ra7 24.Rac1 Rd7 25.e6 Rd5 26.Nc4 Bxc4 27.Rxc4 Rf8 28.Qg6 Nb7 29.Qe4 Nd6 30.Bxd6 Rxd6 31.Rcxd4 Rxd4 32.Rxd4+ Kc8 33.g3 Qc5 34.Rd2

[34.a3]

34...Kb7 35.Rd7+ Kb6 36.Qe2 Rd8 37.Rxd8 Bxd8 38.Qd2 Be7 39.a3?!

Black quickly gets a winning advantage now.

[39.Qf4 Qd6 40.Qf7 Qd1+ 41.Kh2 Qf3 42.Qxe7 Qxf2+ 43.Kh1 Qf1+ 44.Kh2 Qh3+ 45.Kg1 Qxg3+ 46.Kh1 Qe1+]

39...Qe5 40.Qd7 Qd6 41.Qe8 Qxe6 42.b4 axb4 43.axb4 Qe5 44.Kf1 Bd6 45.Qd8+ Bc7 46.Qd2 Bd6 0-1

54th Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia (ITA), 27 xii 2011 - 6 i 2012 cat. XX (2744)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2775 * * . . 1 . 1 . ½ . ½ . 8 2926
2. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2758 . . * * ½ . ½ . 1 . 1 . 8 2926
3. Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2762 0 . ½ . * * 1 . . . 1 . 7 2838
4. Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2727 0 . ½ . 0 . * * 1 . . . 4 2669
5. Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2729 ½ . 0 . . . 0 . * * ½ . 2 2550
6. Giri, Anish g NED 2714 ½ . 0 . 0 . . . ½ . * * 2 2563
Round 4 (December 30, 2011)
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Morozevich, Alexander 1-0 52 C84 Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Vitiugov, Nikita - Caruana, Fabiano 0-1 46 A45 Trompowsky
Giri, Anish - Nakamura, Hikaru 0-1 59 E99 King's Indian Classical
54th Reggio Emilia w Reggio Emilia (ITA), 27 xii 2011 - 6 i 2012
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Guramishvili, Sopiko wg GEO 2374 * * 1 . . . 1 . 1 . 1 . 12
2. Brunello, Marina wm ITA 2221 0 . * * 1 . . . ½ . 1 . 7 2341
3. Sharevich, Anna wg BLR 2267 . . 0 . * * ½ . 1 . 1 . 7 2267
4. De Rosa, Mariagrazia wf ITA 2122 0 . . . ½ . * * ½ . 1 . 5 2246
5. Videnova, Iva wg BUL 2297 0 . ½ . 0 . ½ . * * . . 2 2053
6. Chierici, Marianna wf ITA 2048 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . . . * * 0
Round 4 (December 30, 2011)
Guramishvili, Sopiko - Videnova, Iva 1-0 28 A43 Old Benoni
De Rosa, Mariagrazia - Sharevich, Anna ½-½ 25 B41 Sicilian Paulsen
Chierici, Marianna - Brunello, Marina 0-1 42 B22 Sicilian Alapin

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